Rapid detection for quarantine decisions

Applications |

Pandemic Prevention

Our open-access instrument can be rapidly configured to detect novel pathogens for use in preventing a pandemic.

If a pandemic as deadly as the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic were to strike today, potentially ~200 million people would die in 18 months. The threat of another devastating pandemic is real and LexaGene’s open-access diagnostic instrument is ideally suited for preventing such a catastrophe. In the event of another pandemic, the best way to minimize deaths is to quickly place infected individuals into quarantine. However, quarantine decisions can only be made if rapid and accurate diagnostics are available at the point-of-care.

Fortunately, facilities with LexaGene’s open-access technology in place will be able to accurately detect a novel pathogen within a week of its genome being sequenced. This is because LexaGene’s technology uses standard liquid reagents (20X qPCR) that can be quickly generated by numerous manufacturers and shipped overnight. These manufacturers can generate sufficient reagents to provide worldwide coverage within a weeks’ time. This speed is in stark contrast to competitor point-of-care technologies that have reagents pre-embedded. Manufacturers of pre-embedded technology rely on single facilities to make their consumables, and because their consumables are so complicated to make, the process is slow. As such, these facilities could never produce enough cartridges to meet worldwide demand, which puts us at risk leaving our physicians and nurses without the diagnostic tests they need to make critical point-of-care decisions regarding quarantine.

LexaGene’s open access technology would deliver more certainty and rapid results for quarantine decisions in pandemic prevention.